Scope and Content: Programs and institutions for the mentally ill and retarded of Massachusetts were among the responsibilities successively of the Board of State Charities (St 1863, c 240), State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity (St 1879, c 291), and State Board of Lunacy and Charity (St 1886, c 101).  They were then the sole responsibility successively of the State Board of Insanity (St 1898, c 433), Massachusetts Commission on Mental Diseases (St 1916, c 285), Dept. of Mental Diseases (St 1919, c 350, ss 79-81), and Dept. of Mental Health (St 1938, c 486)
Arrangement: Arranged by facility
Restrictions: Mental health client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 123, s 36. Mental retardation client information restricted by statutory provision MGLA c 123B, s 17. For conditions of access consult repository
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Scope and Content: Three successive provincial congresses served as the government of Massachusetts in opposition to the crown-appointed governor and council, before and during the outbreak of the Revolution.  Proceedings are a daily account of their activities.
Arrangement: In three subseries: (1) Oct. 7-Dec. 10, l774 (2) Feb. 1-May 29, 1775 (3) May 31-July 19, 1775; Arranged within each subseries chronologically by date of meeting
Notes: Owned and annotated by William Lincoln, compiler of published version.  Vol. 1 (Oct. 7, 1774-Apr. 15, 1775) presented by nephew William S. Lincoln to state secretary in 1889.  Vol. 2 (Apr. 22-May 21, 1775) presented by Lincoln to American Antiquarian Society in 1875; transferred to Archives at request of State Archivist Richard Hale, 1971
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Scope and Content: Commissioners appointed pursuant to a General Court order, Feb. 27, 1811, to investigate and recommend remedies for unrest over conflicting land claims in Lincoln County, District of Maine, met May 1-10 in several affected towns.  This series records proceedings of their hearings.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by date of hearing
Notes: Spine title: Records of commissioners on Lincoln Co. land titles
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Scope and Content: The Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England received a royal charter in England, Mar. 1629.  They sat as a General Court, from 1630 serving in the Massachusetts Bay colony as the governing body (along with an executive Council), until the revocation of the charter and imposition of a crown-appointed governor and council in 1686.  Series constitutes their proceedings.
Arrangement: In two subseries: (1) General Court, including Court of Assistants (volumes 1-2, 4-5)  (2) House of Deputies (volume 3); Arranged within each subseries chronologically by date of meeting.
Notes: By Thaddeus M. Harris, 1839, pursuant to agreement signed by Joseph B. Felt at request of state secretary John P. Bigelow. Bound and shelved as: Court records, volumes 1-5 (for volume list see: Massachusetts. Council. Legislative records ((M-Ar)1701X))
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Scope and Content: The Massachusetts Governor’s External Relations (formerly Correspondence) Office prepares gubernatorial proclamations for observances for the most part mandated by statute (MGLA c 6, ss 12-15), for recognition of significant persons, events, professions, or other socioeconomic phenomena, or for publicizing actions of the state government.  Special proclamations are also issued for unofficial observances.  Series documents formation of the proclamation from initial correspondence, governor’s correspondence routing form, background material, and proclamation draft, which may be an amended version of a past proclamation, to a photocopy of the proclamation itself, signed and sealed by the governor and state secretary.  For official copies of  proclamations through 1996 see: Proclamations ((M-Ar)235X)
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
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Scope and Content: The Massachusetts Governor’s Office of Constituency Services acted as a liaison between the governor and constituency groups.  It also prepared statutory proclamations for observances for the most part mandated by statute (MGLA c 6, s 12-15), for recognition of significant persons, events, professions, or other socioeconomic phenomena, or for publicizing actions of the state government ; and special proclamations for unofficial observances requested by citizen groups, a role carried out by the governor’s Public Information Office from 1963-1965. In later years only statutory proclamations were retained by the issuing agency to be archived.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically
Notes: Provenance/issuing agency undetermined. Formerly known as: Statutory proclamations. July-Dec. 1992 mostly lacking. Oct. 19, 2001 (Massachusetts Archives Week) proclamation also included. Dec. 28, 2012 (Emancipation Proclamation Day, Jan. 1, 2013) proclamation also included; presented by Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, Mar. 5, 2013
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Scope and Content: The Victim and Witness Assistance Board, established by Massachusetts’s Victim Bill of Rights (St 1983, c 694, effective 1984–see currently MGLA c258B), is chaired by the state attorney general. The board governs the Massachusetts Office of Victim Assistance (MOVA), created in 1984 as the executive office of the board (Minutes, Aug. 28 and Oct. 24, 1984; Apr. 29, 1985).  The office and board review and approve federal and state grant funds given to programs to help victims (and witnesses) of crime, provide direct support to such victims through information, referrals, and counseling, and work in the areas of advocacy, legislation, public policy, training, education, and outreach.
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Scope and Content: Since 1971 the Executive Office of Human Services (Executive Office of Health and Human Services since 1992) has been responsible through its constitutent agencies for the delivery of a wide range of services to persons with financial, health, social, protective, rehabilitation, and correctional needs. Its role is one of management and fiscal oversight, coordination of interagency planning and program development, and policy analysis.  Series was created in developing and implementing a system to monitor the cost and effectiveness of departmental and divisional projects within the executive office.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by year, thereunder by department/facility
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Scope and Content: Since 1978, and with direct legislative authorization since 1983, the Coastal Zone Management Office within the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs has administered the interagency Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management Program, which was established under the auspices of the federal Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, PL 92-583.  The office reviews all activities directly affecting the coastal zone that require federal permits, to ensure that these are in compliance with approved state environmental management mandates such as provided in the Coastal Wetlands Restriction Act (St 1965, c 768).  It also reviews coastal-zone related projects requiring state or local permits and works with other state agencies to improve regulatory mechanisms to protect coastal resources and to set coastal management policies and priorities.  Series is created to review and approve development projects involving use of coastal resources, in accordance with the provisions of MGLA c 91 (Waterways), and to certify compliance with all state environmental policies.
Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by municipality, thereunder by project code/year
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Scope and Content: The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts appointed a Court Monitor in 1979 to administer court consent decrees relating to five state schools for the mentally retarded. In 1986 the responsibility was transferred to the gubernatorially established Office of Quality Assurance for the Mental Retardation Consent Decrees. In 1993 oversight was transferred to a Governor’s Commission  on Mental Retardation, while specific quality assurance functions were placed under an Office of Quality Enhancement, Office of Quality Management, Dept. of Mental Retardation, which had taken over responsibility for the mentally retarded from the Dept. of Mental Health in 1986.
Notes: From the records of the Governor’s Commission on Mental Retardation, transferred to  Archives, 1994-2008. For details consult the Massachusetts Archives series control file.
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